Alaska approves 50-year land lease for large natural gas-powered data center in the Arctic

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources on Tuesday approved a 50-year land lease for a proposed large-scale computing data center on the North Slope near the Dalton Highway, the trans-Alaska oil pipeline and the proposed trans-Alaska natural gas pipeline. In its final approval, the department said the lease is in the best interests of the state of Alaska, and additional permits will be needed before construction takes place. Initial site development for the proposed “STAK Energy Campus” is estimated to cost $500 million. The buildings and other infrastructure would include a multi-gigawatt natural gas power plant fired with gas produced locally on the North Slope. Writing in response to public comments about the plan, the DNR wrote, “this proposed development presents circumstances that are, in important respects, without direct precedent in the State’s historical management of its lands and resources.” To date, Alaska has no large-scale commercial computing data centers.

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